SAN JOSE — For a lot of young players on entry-level contracts, the 10-game mark is an important threshold. Do they stay in the NHL or get sent back to their major junior team? After nine games, it is decision time, and one that management is grappling with in Seattle in regard to Shane Wright and in Arizona with Dylan Guenther, for example.
But it was no issue at all with the Ducks and rookie forward Mason McTavish.
McTavish played his ninth game of the season, against Toronto, on Sunday and his 10th here against the Sharks on Tuesday night, playing center for the first time this season. He centered the fourth line of Max Jones and Brett Leason.
“It wasn’t even a conversation, to be honest with you,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said before Tuesday’s game in San Jose. “He’s come in and he’s earned his spot here. There was never any question he wasn’t going to be here.
“With a young player, the thing you want to do is make sure that he is playing and getting half-decent minutes. Usually, if he’s not, that’s the time to maybe get him back to junior. But with Mason, there’s nothing for him to accomplish back there anymore. He’s been to the Memorial Cup. He’s played at the World Juniors. He was the captain there – the most valuable player at the tournament.
“But the most important part is he’s earned a spot on our team and I hope that he’s going to play well enough that he’s in the lineup every night.”
Heading into Tuesday’s game, McTavish had four assists in nine games, no points in his last four games, and played a season-low 11 minutes, 4 seconds on Sunday. He’s frequently one of the last players on the ice at practice, staying on extra to work on his game.
“He’s hungry for information and he’s hungry to get better,” Eakins said, praising McTavish’s work ethic. “He’s not your everyday 19-year-old. He’s like 208 pounds, extremely strong. Those worries you usually have when a guy that’s got junior eligibility is usually that he’s weak and he’s not going to be able to be good for 82 games. And we don’t have any worries about that.”
CARRICK UPDATE
Due to his offseason hip surgery, Sam Carrick last played a regular-season game on April 17. Rather than throw him back into the NHL fray immediately, the Ducks assigned him to their AHL affiliate in San Diego on a long-term injured reserve conditioning loan on Tuesday.
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“It’s something as an organization – when your team is so close – it’s easy to incorporate,” Eakins said. “Sam had surgery and he’s had to have a big long rehab, and rather jump right into a game with no training camp at this level, it’s way better for him to get his feet wet there first.”
For Carrick, who was able to take part in full-contact practices last week, the move made sense on multiple levels. San Diego has three games in the next four days, starting on Wednesday at Bakersfield and then back-to-back home games against Milwaukee on Friday and Saturday.
“It’s something I think teams should utilize more often,” Eakins said. “Guys coming off long injuries. In doing that, it only benefits the player and the team once he returns.”
LINEUP OPTIONS
The Ducks had been using an 11/7 alignment the last two games – losing in Vegas and winning in overtime against Toronto. They went back to the 12-forwards, six-defensemen lineup in San Jose. Defenseman Colton White, who played on Sunday, was a healthy scratch, and Leason was back in the lineup.
Goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who has traditionally played well against the Sharks, made his second start of the season. In seven career games against San Jose, Stolarz is 5-1-0 with a 1.79 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage.